Birds of Prey: Natural History and Conservation of North American Raptors

Both biologists, the Snyders (he wrote Parrots of Luquillo ) have devoted much of their lives to observing avian behavior from hidden posts the world over. Here, in textbook tone, they offer descriptions, field notes, conservation updates, color photographs and habitat maps of 34 North American meat-eating species, known as raptors, excluding only those nocturnal hunters, the owls. Field notes describing the endangered California condor, now living in captivity, are particularly revealing, as are observations on the turkey vulture's keen sense of smell and the Everglade kite's dependence on the Florida apple snail. The authors' remarkable research and their aim of encouraging raptor conservation are ill served by the dry presentation of their material, the uneven quality of photographs and workmanlike cartography. (Nov.)